Input and Output

The User Connection

Input: Getting Data from the User to

the Computer

Keyboard
Pointer Devices
Source data Automation

Keyboard: Part of a PC or a Terminal connected to a computer in another location,

Ergonomic Keyboards
Reduce or minimize repetitive strain injury of wrists
Provide more natural, comfortable position of wrists,

arms, and hands

How the Computer Accepts Input From the

Keyboard?

Pointing Devices
Mouse: Most common pointing device
Mechanical
Types of Mouse: Optical
Cordless

Mouse
Devices Used for Games
Devices Used in Laptop
Others

Trackball Variation on mechanical mouse

User rolls the ball directly
Often built into laptop computers

Joystick Short lever with handgrip

Pressing trigger causes actions to take place

TouchpadRectangular pressure-sensitive pad

Sliding finger across pad moves pointer
Tapping with finger recognized as click

Pointing stick

Small pressure-sensitive post mounted in center of keyboard

Pushing post in any direction moves pointer

Other Pointing Devices

User moves stylus or puck across board

Graphics tablet Used to create or trace precise drawings

Touch screen

Allow user to touch items on screen

Position of finger on screen determines
item to be input into system

Pen-based Computing

Use pen-like stylus to input data

Often used in PDAs or pocket PCs

Source Data Automation:

Use of special equipment to collect data.

Magnetic-ink Character Recognition (MICR)

Optical Recognition Devices
Other Sources

MICR Uses a machine to read characters

Banking industry is predominant user
Characters preprinted on lower left- hand side of check
Amount added by MICR inscriber when check is cashed

 Optical Recognition: Uses a light beam to scan data & Convert To Electrical Signals

Scanners: OCR software required

Flatbed scanner: Scans one page at a time
Sheet fed scanner: Motorized rollers feed sheet across scanner head

Other Optical Recognition Methods

Optical Mark Recognition: Senses marks on piece of paper
Bar Codes: Machine reads a series of vertical marks.

Other Sources
Voice Input: User voice recognition software
Digital Camera: User takes photo that is stored on a chip. Photo

can be downloaded to computer

Video Input
Digital video consists of series of still frames
Web cam used to transmit video over the Internet
Can capture video from analog sources with video capture card

Other Optical Recognition Methods

Other Sources

Voice Input: User voice recognition software

Digital Camera: User takes photo that is stored on a chip. Photo

can be downloaded to computer

Video Input
Digital video consists of series of still frames
Web cam used to transmit video over the Internet
Can capture video from analog sources with video capture card

Output: Information for the User

Computer Screen Technology

Common forms are:
CRT Screens: Display text and graphics

Cathode Ray Tube (CRT)

Flat-Panel Screen
Smart Display

Graphics card converts signals from the CU into the image the user sees

Factors Affecting Performance Scan rate

Resolution (clarity) of screen
Dot pitch
Video memory

Flat-Panel Screens/ Flat-Panel Screens: Very Thin, Sharp & Easier on eyes
LCD Technologies
Active-matrix: Uses TFT. Produces brighter image and can be viewed from wider angles.
Passive-matrix: Uses fewer transistors. Cheaper & uses less power.
Gas plasma: Supports very large displays. Viewable at very wide angles.

Smart Display

Each contains its Own Processor

Wireless transmitter-receiver allows user to control desktop from anywhere in the house

 Printers: Portrait or Landscape

Two Ways of Printing

Impact Printers:

Require Physical Contact with paper. Bubble Jet

Line printer: Used with mainframes printing lengthy reports.

Dot-matrix: May be used in PC.
Non-impact Printers: Doesnt require any Physically Contact with the paper.
Laser: Uses light beam to print on paper. Produces high- quality output
Ink-jet: Sprays dots of ink from jet nozzles. Requires high-quality paper so ink
doesnt smear. Less expensive than laser printers

Voice Output: Use in Automated Telephone-Based Customer Service

Two Approaches
Synthesis by Analysis: Analyzes actual human voice, Records and Plays Back as needed.
Synthesis by rule: uses linguistic rules to create Artificial Speech

Combine Input & Output Capabilities

Terminals
Dumb Terminal: Keyboard for input & monitor for output. No
processing capability

Intelligent Terminal: combines a keyboard and monitor with

memory and a processor. Ability to perform limited processing functions
Point-of-Sale (POS) Terminal: Captures retail sales data when
transaction takes place

Storage and Multimedia

The Facts and More

Secondary Storage: Unlike memory data is not lost when power is lost

Benefits of Secondary Storage

Space
Reliability
Convenience

Economy

Storage Device:

Storage Media: Hardware components that Write data to & Read data from.

Storage Device: Hardware components through which the system Writes &
Reads data in the media.

Magnetic Storage
Type of Storage Devices: Optical Storage
Hybrid

Magnetic Disk Storage: Data represented as Magnetized Spots on surface of

spinning disk. Spots Convert to electrical impulses.
Primary Types

Diskettes
Hard Disks

Diskettes: Made of flexible Plastic Mylar & Coated with Iron Oxide.
3 Diskette: holds 1.44 MB of data
Sonys HiFD: holds 200 MB
Imations Super Disk: available in 120 and 240 MB versions

Iomegas Zip drive: available in 100, 250, and 750 MB versions

Track: The Circular Portion of the disk surface that passes under the read/write head
A Floppy has 80 Tracks & 18 Sectors. So it has total of
1440 X 2. So a floppy can hold about 1.44MB of data.

HDD may have 1,000 or more Tracks on each surface of each platter

Sector: Each track is divided into sectors that hold a fixed number
of bytes. Typically 512 bytes per sector

Hard Disks: Rigid platter Coated with Magnetic Oxide.

Several platters can be Combined into a disk pack

Large computer systems may have several external HDD.
Capacity in gigabytes

Sata or Iomegas Jaz drive is very popular.

HDD Crashes: Access arm moves read/write head over platter. If head touches
platter, a head crash occurs and data is destroyed.
Disk Packs: Disk packs combine Platters, Access Arms, and Read/Write Head

Optical Disk Storage: A Laser uses a concentrated, narrow beam of light,

focused and directed with Lenses, Prisms & Sensor.

How CD-ROM
Drive Works?

Categorized by read/write capability

Read Only Media (ROM): user can read from, but not write to disk.
Write Once, Read Many (WORM): user can write to disk once
Magneto Optical: combines magnetic and optical capabilities

CD:

DVD:

CD-ROM: Read Only. Stores up to 700 MB

CD-R: Write to Disk Once.
CD-RW: Erase and Record over data multiple times.

Capacity up to 17GB, allows full-length movies, Sound is better than on audio CDs

Blue Ray Disk: 100GB Capacity

Magnetic Tape Storage

Tape similar to tape used in music cassettes
Categorized in terms of density. Number of bits per
inch stored on tape
Used primarily for backup of data stored on disk
systems

Backup Systems
It is wise to have copies of data stored away from computer
Disks occasionally fail
Software installation can cause computer to crash
Users make mistakes entering data

Tape is ideal backup medium

Can copy entire hard disk to single tape in minutes

Backup can be scheduled when you are not going to use the system

End

End

Probable Question

1) What is Computer? Describe 4 primary components

of a Computer System.
2) Describe the Classification of Computers.
3) What is Central Processing Unit? Describe Control
Unit & The Arithmetic Logic Unit.
4) How data is Transforming into Information?
Explain Decimal & Binary Systems and Bits &
Bytes.
5) Describe the Factors Affecting Computer Speed.
6) Explain the benefits of Secondary Storage devices.
How Computer Accepts Input From the Keyboard?
7) What to look while purchasing your own PC?
END

How to purchase your own PC / What to look in a PC?

CPU:
Motherboard:

Floppy Drive:

Hard Disk:

CD-ROM/Writer:

Memory or RAM:
Monitor:

Keyboard:
Mouse:
37 of 37

Printer:
Modem:
Transmission Speed

Data Communication
Error Correction
Internal versus External

END

Organizing and Accessing Stored Data

Character: A letter, digit, or symbol
Field: set of related characters. E.g. Std Name

Key field: a unique identifier for a record.

Record: A collection of related fields. E.g. all of
the fields for one student constitute one record
File: A collection of related records for university.
Database: A collection of related files stored with

minimum redundancy (duplication). For university,

student file, alumni file, faculty/staff file, courses
file, financial file, etc.

File Organization: Three major methods of organizing data

files in secondary storage
Sequential File Organization: records must be retrieved in the
Same Physical Sequence in which they are stored.
So the computer must 1st Retrieve Record # 1 then # 2 then # 3 so on.
To update a record, a new sequential file must be created, with
changed and unchanged records
Tape storage uses sequential organization
Direct/Random File Organization: Here the records are not
necessarily stored in sequence.
This method allows to retrieve stored data in Any Physical Sequence
without regard to their actual physical order on the storage media.
Magnetic Disk technology uses the method & is the most popular one.
Indexed File Organization: Combines elements of sequential
and direct methods
Records stored sequentially, but file also contains an index
Index contains record key
Data accessed by record key

Processing Stored Data: Transactions processed to update a

master file

Transactions: a business event such as a sale

Master file: data that is updated when a transaction

occurs, such as a sales file or inventory file

Batch Processing:
Transactions collected into groups or
batches.

Batch processed and master

file updated when the computer
has few users online
Very efficient use of computer
resources
Master file current only
immediately after processing

Transaction Processing: Processing transactions

as they occur

Also called Real-Time Processing & Online Processing

Terminals must be connected directly to the computer
Offers immediate updating of master file

End

5 of 37

SCANNER

Document
being
scanned
Converts
signals
to numbers

To computer

Light source, lens

and diode array

Analog Sound Signals

Digital Audio Output
[electrical signals]
(ex. 11100011) to
computer
Analog Signals are Digitized

30 of 37

Representing Data

(Cont)

App. Value (bytes)

Actual Value (bytes)

1,000

1,024 (210)

Megabyte (MB)

1,000,000

1,048,576 (220)

Gigabyte (GB)

1,000,000,000

Terabyte (TB)

1,000,000,000,000

Unit
Kilobyte (KB)

1,073,741,824 (230)
1,099,511,627,776 (240)

November 2007

Fastest Super Computer: NECs SX-9 (Speed upto 839 Teraflops)

Rent: $26,000/Month
November 2007

New Intel Chip for PC: Penrin

New Apple Chip for PC: Leppord